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How bad is bad news? Assessing the effects of environmental incidents on firm value

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  • Tommy Lundgren
  • Rickard Olsson

Abstract

Based on a formal model of how investments in corporate social responsibility act upon firm value through goodwill, we derive the hypothesis that under uncertainty bad news are detrimental to goodwill, and subsequently have a negative impact on value. We examine by event study methodology whether bad news in the form of environmental (EV) incidents affect firm value negatively as measured by abnormal returns using a global data set. An EV incident is a company incident allegedly in violation of international norms on environmental issues. We analyse 142 EV incidents 2003-2006. The EV incidents are generally associated with loss of value, but which are not statistically significant, except for incidents for firms in Europe. Furthermore, results indicate that firms with low goodwill capital (high EV risk rating) are associated with relatively larger negative abnormal returns in case of an EV incident.

Suggested Citation

  • Tommy Lundgren & Rickard Olsson, 2009. "How bad is bad news? Assessing the effects of environmental incidents on firm value," American Journal of Finance and Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(4), pages 376-392.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:amerfa:v:1:y:2009:i:4:p:376-392
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    Cited by:

    1. Tommy Lundgren & Rickard Olsson, 2010. "Environmental incidents and firm value-international evidence using a multi-factor event study framework," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(16), pages 1293-1307.
    2. Gregor Dorfleitner & Christian Kreuzer & Christian Sparrer, 2020. "ESG controversies and controversial ESG: about silent saints and small sinners," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(5), pages 393-412, September.
    3. Dorfleitner, Gregor & Kreuzer, Christian & Laschinger, Ralf, 2021. "How socially irresponsible are socially responsible mutual funds? A persistence analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).

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